According to a Washington Post report the approval by US
Judge Nancy Firestone of the US Court of Federal Claims
means the November settlement of a lawsuit by the National
Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) against the US Justice
Department can be implemented.

In her order approving the settlement, Firestone called
it “fair, adequate, and reasonable,” the Post said.

Pay Caps

The lawsuit stemmed from a 1982 Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) rule governing how pay raises would be
calculated for federal employees who receive “special
rate” salaries. Such employees operate under a different
pay scale than general schedule employees because they
work in hard-to-fill positions.

Under the 1982 regulation, the salaries of special
rate employees were no longer reviewed whenever general
schedule employees received a federal pay raise, a move
the union contended unfairly capped their raises from
1982 to 1988, according to the Post story.

“As a result, many special rate employees received
little or no pay increases during the years the OPM
regulation was in effect, while their colleagues paid
under the general schedule received pay increases almost
every year,” Firestone wrote in her order.

Limit Less?

The settlement won’t mean money for all of the
212,000 current and former employees who were in the
special rate category from 1982 to 1988. The back pay and
other monetary awards will go to those whose raises were
improperly capped during that period.

The NTEU estimates that group to number about
129,000 individuals, many of whom have left the
government, retired or died, according to the
Post.

The typical award would range from $1,000 to
$3,000, although in some cases much larger amounts would
be paid, union officials said. The union estimates that
50 people are in line to receive more than $50,000
each

Under the judge’s order, class members will be
mailed materials describing the amounts they are owed.
Recipients can claim the payment by signing and returning
the claim form, or they may file a challenge if they
believe the amount is inaccurate. The OPM is required to
pay $400,000 to cover settlement administration
expenses.

Spring Things

Kelley said class members would receive the mailed
notices by spring, with payments to follow late next
year.

“After all of this effort, it will be very
gratifying to see this money paid to those who deserve
it,” said Colleen Kelley, president of the NTEU, which
initiated the class action lawsuit in 1983. The union
represents 150,000 employees in 28 agencies.

Under the agreement, the government also will pay $3.6
million in plaintiffs’ attorney fees and $500,000 to cover
legal expenses.